Remarks by the Vice President at a Reception for Congressman Mike Rogers Note
Von Braun Center, North Hall
Huntsville, Alabama

9:50 A.M. CDT

THE VICE PRESIDENT: Thank you very much, Senator. And I want to
thank all of you for that warm Alabama welcome this morning. I've been
looking forward to this opportunity to come back to Huntsville. I bring
greetings to everyone here this morning from the man that Alabama
helped put in the White House, George W. Bush. (Applause.)

A lot of people don't realize that I'm really a product of the
United States Senate. As Vice President, I don't have any official
duties down in the executive branch. When they wrote the Constitution,
they created the job of Vice President. And then decided at the end of
the conference, or the convention, that they had to give him something
to do. So they made him the presiding officer of the United States
Senate.

And my predecessor, the first Vice President, John Adams, also was
given floor privileges. He was allowed to enter into the debate and go
down into the well of the Senate and address the day. And then he did a
few times, and they withdrew his floor privileges. (Laughter.) And
they've never been restored.

The point of all of that is I get to spend a lot of time in the
United States Senate. And it's my great good fortune there to get to
work with two outstanding Senators that you've elected from Alabama --
Richard Shelby and Jeff Sessions. They do a superb job for all of you.
(Applause.)

And I'm delighted Richard could join us today, and I look forward
to serving with him because I know he's going to win reelection here in
Alabama this year overwhelmingly. We'd love to see that happen.

I'm here today specifically because President Bush and I both
believe that it's absolutely essential that Mike Rogers be reelected to
Congress next year. Mike's working hard for the people of Alabama. He's
a fifth-generation resident of East Alabama. And he's working with
President Bush to help make Alabama and America safer, stronger, and
better.

Mike's a member of the House Armed Services Committee, where he's
devoted himself to strengthening America's military and to
strengthening Alabama's role, with respect to the U.S. military. And
he's a member of the House Agriculture Committee, where he's been a
reliable friend to the Alabama farming community. Mike understands the
best way to help small businesses and create more jobs is to cut taxes.
He's been a strong and consistent supporter of tax relief. He's
championed the jobs and the growth acts that the President signed last
May. When he came to Congress last November after a close election --
and of course, the opposition is doing everything they can to try to
recruit candidates to run against him next year. But Mike knows the
best thing he can do to get reelected is to be a great congressman and
represent the people of Alabama well, and that's precisely what he's
been doing. President Bush and I highly value Mike's work in the 108th
Congress. And we look forward to working with him for a good many years
to come.

Now, I spent some time in the House of Representatives myself over
the years. I served there for 10 years, got elected six times. And I
actually arrived in House at the same time that Richard Shelby did,
that same 1978 election -- although he was in a different faith in
those days. (Laughter.) We managed to work together very ably, and, of
course, he came to see the light, which we all deeply appreciate.
(Laughter and applause.)

Of course, Wyoming was unique. We had a small delegation. We only
had one member of Congress -- one member of the House. It was a small
delegation. But it was quality. (Laughter.) And it's been now about
three years since the President talked to me about becoming his running
mate. When he asked me to sign on, he said it wasn't because he was
worried about carrying Wyoming. He got nearly 70 percent of the vote in
Wyoming. But I remind him, from time to time, that those three Wyoming
electoral votes came in pretty handy in the final count. (Laughter.)

I think the fact is some pundits expected that having won a close
election, that the administration might trim its sails once we got into
office. You know, we'd move forward with a more timid agenda than we'd
campaigned on. From the very beginning, the President made it clear
that he'd gone to Washington to get something done, and that we were
going to do absolutely everything we could to move ahead with our
priorities.

That very first year, we achieved two of our biggest goals -- tax
reform and education reform. On the tax front, we lowered income tax
rates, reduced the marriage penalty, and eliminated the death tax. The
President also moved aggressively and successfully to build a
bipartisan coalition to reform our education system. It was a milestone
reform, ushering in an era of high standards and responsibility. It's
truly been a turning point, and we believe that it will set American
education on the path to significant improvement.

The defining moment for our administration and the President,
clearly, was the attack on our country on September 11th, two years ago
next week, a day none of us will ever forget. Suddenly, we understood
how vulnerable we are as a nation; how it was possible for terrorists
to take advantage of our open borders and our open society and use them
against us. It was, without question, a watershed event in American
history.

We saw that it was relatively easy for a small number of terrorists
to launch an attack and to kill almost 3,000 of our fellow Americans in
a couple of hours in New York City, Washington, and Pennsylvania. We
also began to understand -- particularly from the evidence that we
uncovered in the caves and tunnels and training camps in Afghanistan --
that our enemies are determined to acquire weapons of mass destruction
-- chemical and biological and nuclear weapons. And we have every
reason to believe that if they succeed, they will use them to launch an
attack far more deadly than anything we've ever experienced.

To counter these threats, we've been forced to think anew about how
to defend our country, about what constitutes an effective national
security strategy for our nation. We've come to realize that if we are
to protect the American people against determined enemies, we cannot
rely on the old Cold War remedies of the past.

The kind of strategy we used against the Soviet Union during the
Cold War, where we held at risk the things they valued in order to
deter them from ever launching attacks against the United States simply
will not work where terrorists are concerned. There's nothing they
value highly enough that we can hold at risk to keep them from
launching an attack against the United States.

So no treaty, no arms control agreement or strategy of deterrence
will end this conflict. We needed a new strategy, and that's precisely
what we've developed. We've begun working aggressively to toughen our
defenses here at home. We've created the Department of Homeland
Security, the largest reorganization of the federal government since
the late 1940s, when the Department of Defense was created. We deeply
appreciate Mike's strong support for our efforts to ensure homeland
security.

But good defense is not enough. The problem with terrorist
organizations is that even if you build defenses that are 99 percent
successful, the 1 percent that gets through can kill you. We need a
strategy that takes us on offense, as well, that lets us go after those
who pose a threat to the United States, and to our friends and allies,
a strategy that allows us to destroy the terrorists before they can
launch further attacks against the United States. We cannot wait to act
until after another day like 9/11 or a day perhaps with even far
greater casualties.

A good part of our new strategy is based upon the President's
determination to change the way we think about states that sponsor
terror. Prior to 9/11, all too many nations tended to draw a
distinction between terrorist groups and the states that provided these
groups with support, sanctuary and safe harbor. They were unwilling to
hold terror-sponsoring states accountable for their actions. After
9/11, President Bush decided that the distinction between the
terrorists and the sponsors could no longer be permitted to stand. The
Bush doctrine asserts that those states which support terrorists or
provide sanctuary for terrorists are just as guilty as the terrorists
themselves. So in addition to going after the terrorists, in addition
to dismantling their financial networks, and their logistical support,
we're also taking on states that sponsor terror.

I'll never forget that Friday after the attack when the President
went to Ground Zero in New York. He stood up on a pile of rubble with a
bullhorn in his hand. And when the men in the hard hats who were
working there said they couldn't hear him, he responded, "Well, I can
hear you. The rest of the world hears you. And the people who knocked
down these buildings will soon hear from all of us."

He's been a man of his word. In Afghanistan, the Taliban regime
harbored al Qaeda and brutalized an entire population. That regime is
no more. In Iraq, where a brutal dictator threatened the peace and gave
support to terrorists, the United States launched one of the most
extraordinary military campaigns in history. And that regime is no
more.

Some people have questioned our strategy. They suggest that somehow
it's wrong for the United States to strike before the enemy strikes us.
But I would argue that on 9/11, we were struck. We lost more people
that day than we lost at Pearl Harbor. And I ask you, if we'd been able
with preemptive military action to defeat that attack before it ever
occurred, would we? And the answer is, you bet we would. Make no
mistake, this President is going to act to protect us against further
attacks, even when that means moving aggressively against would-be
attackers.

The war on terror continues. It is a war being fought all around
the globe. Look at the attacks that have already occurred in the last
two years, not only in New York, Washington and Pennsylvania, but in
Bali, Mombassa, Riyadh, Casablanca, Jakarta, Jerusalem, Bombay and
Baghdad. And the war will continue, perhaps as long as we're in office,
perhaps even longer. In this global war on terror, U.S. forces are
heavily engaged when and where they need to be -- especially in
Afghanistan and Iraq. We will stay in Afghanistan and Iraq to make
absolutely certain that the job is done before we move on. We'll stay
until we've wrapped up all the weapons of mass destruction and
eliminated all of those who are enemies of the United States.

This war is not without sacrifice. More than 300 of our troops have
already given their lives during the war on terror. There will surely
be more casualties ahead. But remember, we lost some 3,000 Americans
here at home on 9/11. We're going to be in much better shape long-term
if we're aggressively going after the terrorists and after the nations
and the mechanisms that support them, than if we lay back and wait for
them to strike us again here at home in the United States.

In the battles of Iraq and Afghanistan, and in other fronts in war
on terror, we've depended on the skill and the courage of our men and
women in uniform. They've faced enemies who have no regard for the
rules of warfare or morality. They've carried out urgent and difficult
missions in remote and hostile parts of the world. And they've done all
of this with the bravery and the honor that we've come to expect. As a
former Secretary of Defense, I've never been more proud of our men and
women in uniform than I am today. (Applause.)

Waging and winning the war on terror is only part of our
responsibilities. There is great work in this world that only America
can do. In the Middle East, we're encouraging free markets, democracy
and tolerance because these are the ideas and aspirations that overcome
violence and turn societies to the pursuits of peace.

Under President Bush, America acts in the world according to both
our fundamental interests and our founding ideals. We believe in the
dignity of life and the right of all people to live in freedom. And all
who strive and sacrifice for the cause of freedom will have a friend in
the United States.

Here at home, we'll continue with an active and aggressive agenda.
We've made major progress on the economy. When we took office, America
was sliding into recession. Too many people who wanted to work couldn't
find a job. To help create jobs and to get the economy growing again,
we've cut taxes each of the three years that we've been in office. In
the bill we passed this year, not only did we cut income tax rates, we
also significantly cut taxes on dividends and capital gains,
fundamental reforms in the tax system that contribute to long-term
growth in our economy. We've delivered the largest tax relief since the
presidency of Ronald Reagan.

Some in Congress want to repeal the tax relief and raise taxes on
the American people. But raising taxes will hurt the recovery and
encourage more wasteful spending. Long-term, the solution to deficits
is greater economic growth, generating greater revenue for the federal
government. Now is exactly the wrong time to talk about a tax
increase.

We've also had action, both in the House and the Senate on an
energy bill. As the people in New York, Ohio, and Michigan experienced
firsthand during the recent blackout, our nation's electricity grid and
system needs repair, upgrade and expansion. We're hopeful that Congress
will work swiftly to move the bill through the conference committee and
produce a plan that will improve our nation's energy infrastructure,
and promote energy efficiency and conservation, develop cleaner
technology and help us explore for more energy in an environmentally
friendly way, and finally reduce our dependence on foreign oil -- a
must for the sake of the national security.

After many years of inaction, we are making progress on bringing
Medicare into the 21st century. Last January, President Bush submitted
a framework for Medicare reform to Congress that would give seniors
access to prescription drug coverage and offer them better choices
under Medicare. Both houses have taken historic action. And the
President and I appreciate Mike Rogers' support for including
prescription drug coverage as part of a modernized Medicare system. Now
Congress must complete its work and send a bill to the President that
provides seniors with better health coverage and relief from rising
costs of prescription drugs. We're also looking forward to working with
the Congress to help small business provide affordable health care to
their employees.

We also need to fix the judicial confirmation process. Right now
far too many nominations for the federal bench are being held up under
threat of filibuster. Our friends on the other side of the aisle refuse
to allow nominees of great merit to even have a vote on the Senate
floor. Well qualified nominees like Alabama's Attorney General, Bill
Pryor, who represents the mainstream of American law and value, who
enjoys the support of Alabama's two senators -- Jeff Sessions and
Richard Shelby -- and who has outstanding credentials to serve on the
federal bench, have been attacked by Senate Democrats who have blocked
and up-or-down vote on the floor of the Senate.

Yesterday, we saw the withdrawal from consideration of Miguel
Estrada, a very talented young man with outstanding credentials, who
had been nominated by the President to serve the Court of Appeals for
the District of Columbia, who after waiting more than two years for an
up-or-down vote, finally decided that he couldn't wait any longer, that
he needed to get on with worrying about his family and his career. But
he was never allowed to have a simple up-or-down vote in the United
States Senate, where we had a majority to support him for confirmation
as a member of the federal bench.

This is unfair not only to the nominees and their families but also
to Americans who are forced to deal with courts handling a growing
caseload without the judges they need. It's time to restore dignity and
civility to the judicial confirmation process by making certain that
every person nominated to the federal bench gets a timely up-or-down
vote. (Applause.)

We've achieved a great deal in these two-and-a-half years, but
there's much left to do in Washington and around the world. We need to
enact Project BioShield to help protect the American people against the
threat of biological warfare. We need legal reform because the strength
of our economy is undermined by frivolous lawsuits. And while there are
encouraging signs that the economy is picking up steam, the President
and I will not rest until everyone who wants a job can find a job.

The campaign season will come in due course. Some might say it has
already started. And when it does, we will run hard and take absolutely
nothing for granted. President Bush and I know that the key to victory
is to do the work we've been given and to do it well. We intend to make
good use of every day that we have the honor of serving the American
people.

Long before I took this job I had the good fortune to work with
other Presidents whom I greatly admire. A White House staffer in the
aftermath of Watergate, I saw Gerald Ford restore confidence in
government out of the sheer decency and force of his character. As a
congressman during the decisive years of the Cold War, I saw the
conviction and moral courage of Ronald Reagan. And as a member of the
Cabinet under former President Bush, I saw the ideal of public service
in its purest form and came to know a leader of honor and integrity.

Along the way, I learned a few things about the presidency and the
kind of person it takes to do that job well. It takes the finest
qualities of character, conviction, personal integrity, good judgment,
compassion and courage in times of testing for the nation. And that,
ladies and gentlemen, is exactly the kind of man we have in the White
House today. (Applause.)

I'm honored to work with George W. Bush. And he and I are both
honored by your confidence and support you've placed in us, by your
support for outstanding leaders like Mike Rogers and Richard Shelby,
who serve Alabama and America so well, and by your commitment to this
great and good country of ours, the United States of America. Thank you
very much. (Applause.)